Beforehand (Continued)

Natsuhi arrived at her destination, just as she had hoped.

And there, she finally saw the owner of that shadow clearly.

Unable to hold herself back, she called out, "Ang."

But Ang gave no response. Flames surrounded him in clusters.

He seemed to have been quietly waiting there all along, waiting for Natsuhi to arrive.

When he saw Natsuhi appear and call his name,

he looked at her expressionlessly and suddenly said, "I hate you."

After saying that, Ang stepped into a cluster of flames beside him, which instantly engulfed him.

Natsuhi froze for a moment, then saw Ang's body already wrapped in flames.

She immediately let out a pained cry. "No, Ang!"

Then she lunged toward Ang, but for some reason, though the distance between them was so close,

it now felt as though they were worlds apart. Even with all her strength, Natsuhi failed to reach Ang's side before he vanished completely.

And save him completely.

In the end, she could only collapse to the ground as though all her strength had left her, as if she had nothing left but pain.

Her husband was gone, her village was gone, and even her son, who might still have resented her, was gone.

Natsuhi did not know what else she could do. She thought of so many things, and in the end, she fainted.

But in the very instant she truly lost consciousness, she seemed to feel the scorching heat around her disappear.

The flames vanished as well, and the screams and countless other noises that had echoed around her ears also disappeared.

It was as though none of it had ever happened. But then she immediately understood—how could any of those things have happened?

Looking at it now, she had merely fallen into an illusion. It was just